Nate Koehler
People love their own side of town. They get passionate about their neighborhoods, whether it’s on Nextdoor, or a listserv or at the corner bar. They get… sassy, we’ll say, about those other sides of town. You know the ones I mean. But for fans of beer, spirits and other fermented beverages, each side of town offers its own bounty, a geographic flight of drinks worth getting to know.
The Isthmus
Let’s start with the granddaddy of brewpubs — the original Great Dane Pub & Brewing Company at 123 E. Doty St. This mainstay continues to draw big crowds of new fans and old, even as newer breweries appear. The dark, stony rathskeller downstairs will surely remain an essential Madison drinking location for many years to come.
The reclaimed industrial space sprawling along East Main Street is home to Old Sugar Distillery (931 E. Main), which has been pouring its much-loved rum, whiskey, ouzo and especially its honey liqueur there since 2010. There’s nothing like a sweltering summer night with a Honey Cap, Old Sugar’s take on a caipirinha, except maybe an autumn afternoon with a spicy, horchata-heavy Gringo.
Just a block away, Bos Meadery’s modern mead hall at 849 East Washington Ave. serves Colleen Bos’ line of honey wines. The room has a laid-back vibe, and sparkling meads like the recent barrel-aged Fire Walk with Mead — cherry, cinnamon and cayenne — match the fun mood.
The Parched Eagle has a taproom at 1444 E. Washington Ave. — see more about that nanobrewery under the “north” section — and State Line Distillery, 1413 Northern Court, just opened its doors in early September.
Nate Koehler
East
The Yahara River marks, in my mind anyway, the division between the true east side and the near-east/isthmus area. One Barrel Brewing, 2001 Atwood Ave., and Next Door Brewing, 2439 Atwood Ave., only a half mile apart, are the anchors of the east side brewing scene.
One Barrel’s comfortably rough-hewn taproom features minimal food offerings sourced from nearby kitchens. There’s a Batch Bakehouse pretzel, Gail Ambrosius chocolates and Fraboni’s pizzas. It’s not just a one-barrel brewing system anymore, but the beers still feel small and familiar, with a mix of year-round and seasonal releases. Copper Stag is a fine amber alt for autumn.
Next Door, with its spacious taproom, features a full restaurant menu. It’s hearty fare, bacon and burgers and poutine, but studded with lighter options like fish tacos and a veggie tostada. The year-round beers are approachable and usually light on the palate, with seasonal releases like the Scotch ale called Plumptuous delivering the ABV heft.
House of Brews is still holding down the far east side, but owner and brewmaster Page Buchanan recently announced that the brewery is for sale. It’s not dead yet, though, so you’ll still find House of Brews beers on tap at the taproom at 4539 Helgesen Drive.
Even further east, the Great Dane operates a satellite location at 876 Jupiter Drive that boasts expansive views of the city.
Nate Koehler
West
We begin again with the Great Dane, which has a pleasant and popular pub at Hilldale (technically it’s at 357 Price Place). This one brews its own beers, too, and at times offers beers available only at this location.
Vintage Brewing Company has operated a pub and brewery at 674 S. Whitney Way since 2010 (expanding from its original bar location on campus). Vintage brews a diverse lineup of beers. With its comfortable retro look and hearty food menu, it’s the west side’s version of Next Door. The number of beers brewed, and their popularity, have been steadily expanding year by year.
In Middleton, Capital Brewery, which launched in 1986, now has Ashley Kinart at the helm. She’s easily the highest profile female brewmaster in the state. Capital’s biergarten is terrific, its festivals (Bockfest, Dogtoberfest) are classics and Winter Skal is one of my local go-to beers.
In Verona, Hop Haus Brewing holds down a spot at 231 S. Main St., near the crossing of the Military Ridge bicycle trail. It produces a roster of hoppy ales and also often hosts live music.
The glittering beer castle that is Wisconsin Brewing Company, 1079 American Way, Verona, is certainly worth a visit. The dog-friendly taproom is a destination for fans with two and four legs alike. WBC opened in 2013 after Carl Nolen and brewmaster Kirby Nelson left Capital Brewing and struck out on their own. Of the numerous beers released so far — more than 20 now — many are in the malt-forward style that Nelson is known for. Porter Joe and its variants are great.
Yahara Bay Distillers, 6250 Nesbitt Road, moved to this well-designed space last year after outgrowing its previous digs. There’s a tasting room for its many spirits (I enjoy the Lemoncella) and Yahara Bay regularly hosts art installations and musical acts.
Another distiller, Death’s Door, 2220 Eagle Drive, Middleton, offers monthly tours that end in its tasting room. The gin, vodka and white whiskey are great, but Wondermint schnapps just feels so Wisconsin.
Nate Koehler
North
Where the north begins is always a contentious question, even when we’re just talking sides of Madison. West of Stoughton Road and north of Aberg Avenue is north enough for me. That gives the north side two of Madison’s biggest and most popular breweries: Ale Asylum, 2002 Pankratz St., and Karben4 at 3698 Kinsman Blvd., on opposite sides of the airport. Karben4 even occupies the same space where Ale Asylum got its start.
Karben4, with its lineup of oddly named, wackily packaged hoppy beers (as well as my favorite red ale, Lady Luck) and other darker offerings, is positioned to ride craft brewing’s growth curve for some time. I wouldn’t be shocked if the Kinsman Boulevard space (and its tiny kitchen) soon proves to be too small for the brewery’s fans.
In fact Ale Asylum proved that a humble storefront could launch a giant. Its current big industrial taproom and production space is a can’t-miss for anyone arriving in Madison by plane. West Coast-style IPAs, a recent expansion into canning, and an annual imperial stout release party make Ale Asylum Madison’s exemplar of the modern craft industry.
In the same area near the airport, AltBrew, 818 Wright St., is making headlines with its gluten-free beers and the acquisition of a Killer Queen arcade cabinet for its taproom. It’s an unlikely pairing, gluten-free with ultra-nerdy gaming, but that’s the north side for you.
The Parched Eagle’s original taproom at 5440 Willow Road in the town of Westport is where brewmaster Jim Goronson makes the beer. The space is simple but comfortable and the beer is fresh. This is just the third area brewery to have more than one taproom (see “east” for its new satellite location). Making the beer where rent is low and taking it to where demand is high may be a up-and-coming strategy.
The Lone Girl Brewing Company taproom and brewery at 114 E. Main St. in Waunakee is a great example of what you can do with good investment and reasonable property costs in an outlying community. It’s big, it’s new construction and it’s real pretty. Waunakeeans love it. It’s a drink-after-work spot and offers dinner too.
Waunakee’s Octopi Brewing, 1131 Uniek Drive, is the area’s first primarily contract brewer. Octopi also represents one half of the creative team behind Untitled Art, a collaboration with brewer Levi Funk. Both Untitled Art beers and guest taps are available at the Octopi taproom, also the site of a trivia night and regular firkin tappings.
Nate Koehler
South
In spring 2016, Nate Warnke opened Rockhound Brewing on the corner of South Park and Drake streets. Rockhound features a proper food menu, and a full slate of tap beers produced on site. Rockhound’s taproom is nicely polished, on a corner that is almost unrecognizably updated from even five years ago, when the Lane’s Bakery building still stood there.
Lucky’s 1313 at 1313 Regent St. is the latest south campus addition to locally brewed beer. Brewmaster Grant Johnson is making five beers from a wheat to a porter, with plenty of hops in between.
Levi Funk, the other half of Untitled Art, is better known as the proprietor of Funk Factory Geuzeria, which produces only spontaneously fermented and sour beers. The Funk Factory taproom at 1602 Gilson St. opened in June and has already hosted a number of bottle releases. If you’re not sure where it is, get a block off of Park Street on Beld Street and look for the beer geeks on a Saturday evening. Funk Factory is where the south side scene is.
The lightly alcoholic fermented tea called kombucha started to get popular at the end of the 20th century, but in 2007, NessAlla made Madison kombucha a thing. Its production space is located at 1418 S. Park St. While it doesn’t feature a tasting room, there are tours available most of the year, and it is on tap at a number of Madison bars and restaurants.
And yes, we can also end with the Great Dane, because there’s a spacious one south of Madison too — in Fitchburg at 2980 Cahill Main, just off South Fish Hatchery Road.
Beer, spirits, mead, even kombucha — there’s no part of the Madison area where you can’t find a glass of something locally made, and our growth means that more brewers and distillers will be popping up all over town. Maybe in your neighborhood.
